Railroad tie



Ian. 29', 1929.

W. R. HEWITT RAILHDAD TIE Filed Dec. 5, 1927 INVENTOR. W 73 Z amlb BY 5 Q 1M4,

A TTORNEYS.

' the life of'the tie thereby reducing to a min-' Patented Jan. 29, 1929.

UNITED STATES- WILLIAM R. HEWITT, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

RAILROAD TIE.

Application filed December 3, 1927. Serial No. 237,439.

My present invention relates to railroad ties and more particularly to a metallic tie having provisions whereby in its application it will function in a manner similar to the ordinary wooden tie.

An object of my invention is to provide a metallic railroad tie which will have the advantageous characteristics of a metal tie and at the sametime possess the desirable characteristics of a Wooden tie.

A further object of my invention is to provide in a tie of the above character means whereby the wearing parts thereof may be replaced to thereby renew its effectiveness without removing the tie from the road bed.

Another object of my invention is to provide means in combination with a tie of the above character whereby the rails can be secured thereto at different gauge distances and thus provide varying degrees of clearwood, but wooden ties are getting more and more expensive as the sources of supply are becoming depleted, and the cost of overhauling and renewing. wooden ties is becoming so high that railroadstoday are adopting every'possible means to reduce this cost to the extent of using preservatives to prolong iinum the number of renewals with incidental expense. Having in mind the acceptability of the wood tie, I have provided by my invention, a metallic tie having a wooden core which serves'the purpose of a wooden tie in" so far as all the desirable resiliency of the wood may. be necessary, the metal portions of my tie serving to -preserve and protect the wooden core and thereby lengthen its useful life. Further, due to the absence of spike" holes, this core can be treated with preservatives having a mlnimum degree of penetra-'- wood, and, being of shorter lengths, I immedlately reduce the cost of eflicient and accept- Y able installation, because of being able to use shorter lengths of wood at a unit cost price much less than the full length wood tie.

Another advantage of this invention, in addition to its permanent metal shell, is the ease of renewals of the wood core, and the making of repairs. Ordinarily in renewing Wood ties, the entire tie is withdrawn and discarded, Whereas in this invention the wood core can be removed independently from either end of the metal shell and by installing a new core, the tie can be restored to its originalefiiciency without disturbing its middle section. 1

For a better understanding of my invention, reference should be had to the accompanying drawing, wherein I have shown by way of illustration andnot of limitation, a

preferred form of metallic tie which embodies the several aspects of my invention.

In this drawing I 1 Fig. 1 is a perspective view of arailroad tie showing the wooden core in place and a portion of rail secured thereto,

Fig. 2 is a-partial sectional view in elevationtaken along the axial center lineof. the tie shown in Fig. 1, 1 r Fig. 8 is a sectional View taken along line III-III of Fig. 2, looking in direction of arrows,

Fig. 4 is a perspective View of a wooden core member, and

Fig. 5 is a perspective view'of one of the rail clamping members. V

In Fig. 1' of the drawings, 10 designates a hollow metallic tiebody member which 'is open at both ends and formedin the sides of the tie body 10, I' provide cut-away. portions 11 which project toward the middle of the tie and extend beneath the point where the rail engages the tie so as to permit a limited amount of resiliency at this point, as will be hereinafter more fully described. At the points where the'rail engages the tie member 10, I provide overhanging-lugs 12' which are adapted to cooperate with clamping members 13 and secure the rail to the tie without the use of spikes. In addition'to the above, I- also provide a corrugation or raised portion 14 at points between the rails which will impart a limited amount of flexibility to the body member 10 and serve, by reason of its engagement with the road bed, to prevent 'creepage of the tie.

While it would be possible to construct a metallic tie embodying the spirit of my invention without incorporating more than these last described features, I prefer to insert in the ends of the metallic body member and adjacent the cut-away portions 11, a suitable yielding filler block 15 which is preferably of Wood. Upon the inner surface of the body member 10 and at points adjacent the inner end of the filler block 15, I provide ridges 16 which serve to prevent the block from moving inwardly in the tie and out of its operative position, and at the outer end of the tie I provide an overhanging lip or keeper 17 which serves to prevent the block from working out of the tie, the lip 17 eX- tending outwardly from the upper surface of the tie body only sufliciently to engage the block 15 when the same is in place, the upper portion of the tie being sprung upwardly when inserting the block 15. As a result of this construction, the block 15 will be securely held within the tie body member without the use of further securin agencies. In connection with this view of the drawing, it will also be seen that I have provided openings 18in the bottom of the corrugated portions 14 through which any water entrapped within the tie will drain oif.

Referring now to the rail securing means, it will be noted from the drawing that the lugs 12 are permanently secured to the tie body member and, as a result of this construction, it will be evident that other means must be provided whereby the rails can be secured to the tie in an adjustable manner so as to compensate for different degrees of clearance therebetween, as on curves, etc. In order to provide for such an adjustment, I propose to construct the clamping members .13 in different widths so that by interchanging these members the position of the rail between the lugs 12 can be varied as determined by the dimensions of the members 13.

In Fig. 2 of the drawing, it will be seen that the inside member 13 isslightly larger than the outside member 13 so that in this case the rail is set out toward the end of the tie, and, assumin that the other rail is similarly secured to t e tie, amaximum clearance will be provided. By providing clamping members 13 in two different sizes, as suggested above, it will be possible to get three different spacings of the rails by interchanging the relative positions of the clamping members. In connection withthe clamping members 13, it should be noted that they rest against the web of the rail and therefore insure a better and safer means of holding the rail in place.

. hereto.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent isi 1. A railroad tie comprising a unitary hollow metallic body member of rectangular cross section having horizontally extending cut-away portions in the side walls thereof whereby the ends of said metallic body member may yield under the rails, and nonmetallic members within said body member adjacent the cut-away portions thereof and cooperating therewith to yieldingly support the rails.

2. A railroad tie comprising a hollow metallic body member having a rigid central portion, filler blocks of fibrous material within the ends of said body member extending beneath the rails, and means whereby the ends of said body member beyond the central portion may be compressed and permit said filler blocks to carry the load.

3. A railroad tie comprising a hollow metallic body member, filler blocksof fibrous material within the ends of said body member extending beneath the rails, cut-away portions in the vertical parts of said body member adjacent said blocks, whereby the weight upon the rails will be supported by said blocks.

4. A railroad tie comprising a hollow metallic body member, filler-blocks of fibrous material within the ends of said body member extending beneath the rails cut-away portions whereby the ends-of said body mem ber may be compressed and permit said filler blocks to carry the load, and means integral with said body member adapted to retain said filler blocks in their-operative position. 5. A railroad tie comprising a hollow'body member of rectangular cross section having a rigid central portion and yielding end portions, rail securing means upon said yielding end portions, and acorrugated portion between said rigid and yielding portions, whereby said yielding portions are rendered more flexible.

WILLIAM R. HEWITT. 

